South Korea boys survives thriller with 2-2 draw

JAKARTA (JP): Red-hot favorite South Korea spared itself any humiliation against spirited Kuwait at the Asian Youth Under-19 soccer championship yesterday with a 2-2 draw.

The South Korean's, fresh from their convincing 3-1 over Thailand on Wednesday, careless defense caused them to trail 1-2 before Kim Sung-il snatched the relieving equalizer six minutes from time the time.

South Korea turned desperate during the last 30 minutes when Seo Dong-wong squandered a penalty awarded by Lebanese referee Talal Saleh, following a foul committed by Hamad Al Basri against Chang Sung-nam in the penalty box.

"We are unlucky. Had we converted on the penalty, we would have won the hard-fought battle," coach Won Heung-jae said. Won praised his opponents for staging an excellent challenge.

Having the physical advantage, South Korea set out in the match with lackluster play, drilling long passes towards Kuwait's goalmouth but meaning nothing to the ruthless Middle Eastern defense.

Kuwait blew its sting with an 18th minute goal when Yousef Al Rashidi breezed a rebound past South Korean goalie Noh Su-man and sent the ball to the far post as three South Korean defenders attempted a vain clearance.

It took South Korea 16 minutes to resurface when Park Sung-bae drove a long pass from Ahn Jung-hwan to the net left vacant by the stranded goalkeeper Yousef Fyth, a reserve for Kuwait's number one goalie Abdullah Ashour.

But Kuwait, relying much on counter attacks, struck another goal seven minutes after the break through a penalty executed by Nohayr Al Shammari.

The tooth and nail battle forced the referee to flash eight yellow cards, each side receiving four.

Other draw

Yesterday's other Group B match pitting Thailand against Bahrain ended also in a 1-1 lackluster draw.

Hungry to win the match after losing 3-1 to South Korea two days ago, Thailand was too hurried in its aggressive attacks, thereby missing some important goal opportunities.

This was confirmed by Thailand's coach, Chatchai Paholpat, after the match. "We really expected to win this match in order to qualify for the semifinals," Chatchai said. He added that his team relied too much on Tawan Sripan's attacking ability.

Boosted by their hopes of winning, the Thais succeeded in taking control of the match. Everytime they launched an attack, though, practically the whole Bahraini team always shielding the goal.

On the other hand, Bahrain's overprotection on defense made it difficult for them to score. Every time one of its booters led the ball over near their enemy's goal post, nobody was there to help him nudge it in.

However, after a dull 0-0 draw in the first half, Yaser Saleh Kadham of Bahrain unexpectedly hit an easy goal in the 62nd.

Yaser way out in front of his teammates, the Thais hotly pursued him, knocking down Thailand's goalie Wacharapong and easily kicking the ball into the unguarded goal.

Thailand finally equalized the score in the 75th through Kiatisuk after several off-target attacks on Bahrain's heavily guarded goal.

Standings

Group A 1. Syria 2 2 0 0 6-1 6 2. Iraq 3 2 0 1 7-4 6 3. Qatar 3 1 1 1 4-6 4 4. Indonesia 2 0 1 1 1-5 1 5. Kazakhstan 2 0 0 2 4-6 0

Group B 1. S. Korea 2 1 1 0 5-3 4 2. Thailand 3 1 1 1 5-5 4 3. Japan 2 1 0 1 2-2 3 4. Kuwait 2 0 1 1 3-3 3 5. Bahrain 3 0 2 1 2-4 2

Today's fixtures: Qatar vs Syria, 5.30 p.m. Indonesia vs Kazakhstan, 7.30 p.m.